Humanity Unlimited 1: Liberty Station Read Online Free Page B

beat swimming.
    He showed the owner of the boat a small wad of American dollars. His Spanish was good enough to get his message across. “You come back when I call you and this is yours.”
    The skinny man shook his head. “Yes.”
    Harry gave him a steady look. “If you don’t come when I call, I’ll take back what I paid you up front, even if you’ve already spent it. Understand?”
    The man swallowed hard. “I understand. I will do as you say.”
    “That will make me very happy. And when I’m happy, everyone else is happy, too.”
    The team hefted their packs and stepped onto the dock one at a time.
    His sniper, Sandra Dean, watched the boat head back the way they’d come. “Did you really need to go all hardass on him, Harry? We look like mercenaries in an action movie. He’s not crazy enough to double-cross us.”
    He grinned. “I’m living up to the image. If we need to get out of here in a hurry, we don’t want him stopping for a beer.” He eyed the trail and shouldered his pack. “Time to hit the road. I’d prefer to be long gone by the time my unlamented brother arrives.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    Jessica stepped out of her tent and stared groggily at the cheerful people preparing breakfast. Actually, a glance at her watch showed they were getting ready for lunch. It was almost ten in the morning. She’d slept far longer than she’d intended.
    Of course, she’d been up late studying all the pictures she’d taken yesterday. Not just of the amazing art deep in the pyramid, but of everything else inside the ancient building that they’d seen on the more sedate trip back out.
    As far she could tell, only the one work was unusual. None of the other carvings, inlays, or paintings Abel had showed her after the big reveal held even a hint at the great secret buried deep inside the base of the ancient structure.
    Abel said that the false well leading down to the secret level was unusual. The only reason he’d discovered it was that he’d tried to get a water sample and found stone instead. He’d taken some water from the real well in the secret room, but he was already certain it would be identical to the water in the well in the courtyard. He believed an underground river fed them both.
    One of the graduate students waved. “Good morning! Would you like some lunch? The stew is almost ready.”
    Jess stretched her back and walked over to the young man. The day was already getting hot. “That sounds good. I hadn’t intended to sleep so long. Where’s Doctor Valdez?”
    The young man gestured toward the pyramid. “Where else? Deep inside the secret chamber.”
    He laughed at the surprised expression on her face. “What? You thought no one knew about it? We snuck in the same night he told us not to go inside the pyramid. Well, it took us several nights to find the fake well. That was pretty clever. What do you think the wall means?”
    “I think it means Doctor Valdez needs less inquisitive graduate students,” she said sternly. “You need to keep this quiet.”
    The young man waved away her concern. “We’ve been with the doctor for years. His secret is safe with us.”
    “That’s not really the point. If you talk about it, someone will overhear you.” She gestured at the local workers all around the camp. “Do you think none of them understand English? You’re almost certainly wrong. Some of them understand it well enough, even if they don’t speak it.
    “Others might be in the employ of Doctor Valdez’s competitors. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn’t be a major problem, but the wall changes everything. It might bring a horde of people determined to strip this find of everything of value to sell on the black market.”
    The graduate student stared at her with an expression that indicated he was waiting for her to deliver the punch line.
    Jess shook her head. “You really don’t get it, do you? People will kill for something like this. Forget you saw that thing and tell your